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Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.

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Muhlenbergia arenicola

Muhlenbergia arenicola Buckley

Sand Muhly

Poaceae (Grass Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: MUAR2

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

The genus of this plant is named for Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815), also Heinrich Ludwig Muehlenberg, or Henry Muhlenberg, who was a German-educated Lutheran minister and the first president of Franklin College, now Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania. He is most famous due to his work in the field of botany. An accomplished botanist, chemist, and minerologist, Henry is credited with classifying and naming 150 species of plants in his 1785 work Index Flora Lancastriensis. Muhlenberg's work and collaboration with European botanists led to great advances in the study of plants and earned him the distinction as America's first outstanding botanist.

 

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Grass/Grass-like
Root Type: Fibrous
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Leaf Complexity: Simple
Leaf Venation: Parallel
Inflorescence: Panicle
Fruit Type: Caryopsis
Size Notes: Up to about 28 inches tall.

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: Green , Purple , Brown
Bloom Time: Jun , Jul , Aug , Sep , Oct
Bloom Notes: Flowers inconspicuous. Bloom color refers to spikelets. Bloom time refers to fruiting period. The lemmas of this grass are sometimes purple-tinged and the anthers are often greenish-tinged.

Distribution

USA: AZ , CO , KS , NM , OK , TX

Web Reference

Webref 38 - Flora of North America (2019) Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
Webref 23 - Southwest Environmental Information Network (2009) SEINet - Arizona Chapter

Additional resources

USDA: Find Muhlenbergia arenicola in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Muhlenbergia arenicola in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Muhlenbergia arenicola

Metadata

Record Modified: 2023-06-07
Research By: TWC Staff

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